Businesses might benefit from test automation for a variety of reasons. Make sure you adhere to the best practices for test automation if you want to get the most value out of it. Test automation can benefit your company greatly, from assisting in improving software quality to reducing the length of your development cycles.
To ensure the success of your business product, you must conduct extensive testing. Without adequate testing, your product will be full of problems that will take a long time to fix, not to mention that you’ll have a lot of unhappy consumers. Additionally, this will erode client confidence in your company.
The last thing a company wants is for its reputation to suffer due to poor product testing. It is a mistake that is easily avoidable.
Before talking about best practices, let’s clarify.
Test automation: What is it?
Using an automation framework and a collection of test tools, automated testing, also known as test automation, is the process of running numerous test suites with the help of code. Automated testing is vital in all workflows, fields, and scenarios where manual testing would take a long time and constitute a block to attaining faster releases since it helps automate some repetitive tests.
1. Determine what needs to be automated:
If your goal is to automate testing completely, this is not the best course of action. Which test scenarios you want to automate must be decided. Here are some suggestions for some of the testing-related tasks you can automate.
- Tests with a high risk of human error
- Features that are frequently employed
- Scenarios that are challenging to carry out manually
- Tests that be carried out using different hardware or software platforms
- The need for numerous data sets in certain situations
- Repeated tests that demand multiple builds
Your test automation strategy must result from careful planning if you want to succeed. Find out which tests you need to automate and use those as a standard for future testing.
2. Choosing the best-automated testing tool:
With so many options available, it’s crucial to employ the proper methods while making your decision. Here are a few ideas to consider as you look for an automation testing platform for your company.
- Does it support the software and hardware you employ?
- Do you require assistance testing mobile apps?
- What operating systems and programs are you utilizing?
- Can testers of any experience level make efficient use of the tool?
- Does the tool allow for the manual construction of automated tests and record-and-playback testing?
- Can you validate values, databases, and other program functionalities using the tool?
- Do the automated tests fail if the user interface of the application changes?
- Is there integration between the automation testing tool and your current ecosystem?
Your decision on the best automation tool will be influenced by the answers to the above questions.
3. The test automation ROI :
It’s a good idea to assess your current testing procedures before considering the ROI that test automation might provide.
Here are several scenarios in which using automated testing is not recommended:
User Experience: It is unreasonable to anticipate that technology will be able to comprehend the emotions that people experience. Software must be tested by a person in order to be used.
Accessibility: Are users able to utilize the app to its full potential? The features should be displayed so that users can find and understand them without navigating a complicated path.
Exploratory Testing: A user does not behave consistently while using an app. You need people to comprehend and do appropriate testing because none of the paths is predetermined. In these situations, exploratory testing is an alternative to automation.
Testing of dynamic content: It can be challenging to determine the content’s current state when running automated tests. Testing dynamic material is possible in conjunction with automated testing.
Remove unstable tests to eliminate uncertainty: Automation is frequently employed since it produces reliable results. The testers must determine what went wrong if a test fails. Unfortunately, the frequency of false positives and inconsistencies has increased, which lengthens the process of analyzing these problems.
You can read about concrete strategies on How To Pick Test Cases For Automation in the article here.
What actions are possible in this situation?
You must delete the unstable tests from regression packs to remove uncertainty. Before beginning any tests, be sure there has been adequate test planning. Every test should always be current, and each test cycle includes an evaluation of the validity and sanity of automated tests.
1. Think about a BDD framework:
Software is implemented using the BDD software architecture exactly as its behaviour is described. They can be used for various testing types, including component, integration, and unit tests. The BDD framework improves team communication and collaboration by helping team members understand one another better.
You can write specifications to aid your team in better comprehending the tests and requirements when you write your tests using BDD. Even clear test documentation is possible.
BDD aids business managers in comprehending tests and their findings. The managers can enhance the testing procedure by suggesting adjustments that will benefit the company.
2. Use high-quality test data:
The significance of employing high-quality test data for your automation efforts cannot be overstated. Normally, the data you enter should be saved in an external file. Any data source, including XML files, text, Excel sheets, and database tables, could be the source of information. The automated testing tool is capable of understanding the data files’ contents.
Your automated tests become reusable and simpler to manage when you use external data. You can add new data to the existing data files without changing the actual automated test to create new testing scenarios.
The conclusion:
You must adhere to the expected best practices if you’re considering automating your company’s testing operations. Make sure your plans are based on your goals, and don’t hesitate to try new things. If you approach test automation correctly, it will yield amazing benefits. Test automation not only helps you save money but also boosts team productivity and enables you to develop user-friendly applications.
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